Automobile door hinge



Jan. 3, 1939 A. J. LEONARDl 2,142,319

AUTOMOBILE DOOR HINGE Filed July 5o, 1956 Patented 3, 1939 A UNITED STATES PATENT OFFICE AUTOMOBILE R HINGE Alben J. manera, Ta canaria, cam. Application July 30, i936, Serial No. 93,466

4 Qlaims.

Generically this invention relates to hinges, but it more particularly is directed to the type adapted to support doors, which have curved or irregular surfaces, and to be completely con- 5 cealed when the doors areclosed.

One of the principal objects of this invention is the provision of a hinge of this character adapted to support heavy doors, with particular reference to automobile doors, and not only be entirely concealed when the door is closed, but designed to effect movement in the direction of the plane of the body as well as a turning movement to the door when being opened and reverse movement when being closed, so that the door l5 niay be freely moved to open and closed positions without binding or jamming.

An important object of this invention is the provision of a concealed hinge for an automobile door wherein the stationary or anchor members 20 are so constructed and the moveable sections so connected and operable with respect thereto so to support a heavy door without sagging and at the same time effect movement of the door with respect to its frame or jamb in such a manner as 25 Ito prevent binding or marring of the body and door surfaces.

Another important object of this invention is the provision of a concealed hinge for automobile doors wherein the abutting faces of the frame 30 and door are formed with opposing recesses in which is adapted to seat a sectional casing adapted to house the hinge, said hinge comprising two stationary and two pivoted foldable connecting members adapted to parallelly move the f 35 abutting face of the door from the frame and trated in the accompanying drawing, in which.

like characters of reference indicate like parts throughout the several figures, of which:

Fig. l'is a sectional view in plan of a part of a 50 casing and door illustrating the hinge in closed position.

Fig. 2 is a similar view showing the hinge extended and the door partly open.

Fig. 3 is a vertical sectional view of the casing 55 and part of the frame and door showing the hinge in elevation and in closed position and the spring in operative position.

The hinges of this general type with which I am familiar have proven unsatisfactory in many respects such as presenting too complicated and 5 costly structures, incapable of supporting automobile ,doors and the like without sagging, permitting the doors to swing open with attendant disastrous results and otherwise being unsatisfactory, and it was to overcome such deficiencies l0 and to provide a hinge means for supporting doors having irregular and curved surfaces, constructed so that as the latch edge of the door is moved in door opening direction the hinged edge will at the same time move in the direction of the plane of the body and slightly away from its abutting frame and then outwardly and away from the .body surface and smoothly with- `out binding or impingment of the contacting surfaces, the anchor or stationary parts adapted to be secured to the door and frame over a sufliciently extensive surface area to support the door without sagging and Without tearing loose, the foldable interconnecting hinge members be- `ing so complementally constructed, pivotally connected and centered with respect to the stationary members as to present an evenly balanced and smoothly operating structural arrangement, and spring means co-acting with one of said members in such a manner as to offer resistance to the door in opening direction and to effect folding of the hinge and closing of the door from open position, and at the same time permitting streamlining of the exterior surface of the body with the hinge entirely concealed, that I designed the concealed hinge structureforming the subject matter of this invention.

In the illustrated embodiment characterizing this invention there is shown an automobile body or frame A, door B, and hinge structure C.

The abutting faces of the frame or door jamb A and door B are formed respectively with opposed recesses I and 2, and mounted in said recesses are the respective sections 3 and 4 of the hinge casing D. The said frame A is countersunk as at 5 to receive the stationary or anchor hinge section 6 secured by screws l. Said hinge section is formed with inwardly and angularly extending section` 8 projecting within the casing section 3 through opening 9 and is formed with a tubular 50 section I0' recessed as at II central of its length to receive a similarly formed end I2 of the curved` link member I3 which is pivotally connected to anchor member 6 by pin I4 to form an articu lated joint as will be well understood.

I'he opposite end of member I3 is bent sharply in a right angular direction as at I to form the hook-like end IB pivotally connected to the curved link or connecting member I1 by pin I8, the other end I1 of member I1 adapted to engage in recess I I' formed in the stationary or anchor member I9 to which it is pivotally connected by pin 20. In order to permit free movement of member I1, said anchor member I9 is formed at one end with a substantially V-shaped portion 2|, the opposite end 22 extending substantially at right angles thereto through opening 9 and is secured in countersunk portion 5 to the door B by screws 1 in abutting relation with respect to anchor section 6 when the door is in closed position, as will be apparent.

It will be noted that the anchor sections 6 and I9 extend the full depth of casing D, thereby enabling a strong and firm attachment to the frame A and door B, and in order to increase the smooth operation of the hinge and materially strengthen the structure at the point of greatest stress when the door is open or moving in opening or closing direction, the movable section I3 is curved downwardly as at 23 and .outwardly and the movable member I1 is complementally curved upwardly as at 24 and outwardly so that said ends will rest in superimposed or overlying relation and pin I8 pivotally connecting said, members owing to its length and the construction of said members presents a stronger connection. Such structural arrangement prevents wobbling of the hinge or sagging of the door, as will be apparent.

A coil spring is mounted below the main body of the casing D in auxiliary compartment 26 secured by standard 21 and is formed with an upstandng arm 28 projecting through curved slot 29 formed in the bottom of main casing D, said arm adapted to 'engage the front edge of link I3, which will oiler resistance when the door is being opened and when the opening force is released will return the movable sections to their folded positions and eiect closing of door B, as will be.

well understood. It will be apparent that the link or supporting movable section structure betake place, except that spring 25 will tend to return the section I3,`s`ection I1 and the door B to their initial positions as shown in Fig. 1.

While only one hinge has been described in detail it is to be understood that two hinges or more are employed and their sizes relatively varied in accordance with the surface contour of the automobile body, so that when the door isrclosed the exterior surface will present no protuberances and the hinge structures will be entirely concealed, as above described.

From the above it will be apparent that I have designed a unique concealed hinge structure for automobiles but which may be employed with equal advantage in connection with other types tion, installable in automobiles already in use with slight alteration to existing structures, manufacturable ata minimum cost and efllcient for the purposes intended.

Although in practice I have found that the form of my invention illustrated in the accompanying drawing and referred to in the above description as the preferred embodiment is the most 4ei'- ficient and practical; yet realizing the conditions concurrent with the adoption of my invention will necessarily vary, I -desire to emphasize that various minor changes in details of construction. proportion and arrangement of parts, may be resorted to within the scope oi' the appended claims without departing from or sacrificing any of the principles of this invention.

. Having thus described my invention, what I desire protectedby Letters Patent is as set forth in the following claims:

1. A hinge structure adapted to be normally collapsed within the complemental portions of a casing carried by a door and frame and normally zontal plane and the other ends pivotally connected in overlying relation, spring means associated with said casing and co-acting with one of said link members tending to normally withdraw said link members into folded relation.

2. A normally concealed hinge adapted to supportingly connect a door to its frame, comprising anchor plate members attached respectively to the door and frame and having pin receiving bores at their free ends. said ends being formed with horizontally aligned recesses, foldable members having the same width throughout and with one end of each member pivotally engageable in one of said recesses and their other ends vertically pivoted in overlying relation, and resilient means tending to normally maintain said members in folded position.

3. A normally concealed hinge adapted to supportingly connect a door to its frame, comprising anchor plate members attached respectively to the door and frame having pintle receiving openings and recesses located in a horizontal plane intersecting therewith at their free ends, foldable members having one end pivotally engageable in said recesses and their meeting ends pivotally connected in vertically disposed overlying relation, and spring means co-acting with one of said foldable members tending to normally maintain said members in folded and said door in closed position.

4. A normally concealed hinge adapted to supportingly connect a door to its frame, comprising. anchor members attached respectively to the door and frame and having pinreceiving bores at their respective free ends, said ends being formed with recesses, foldable members having one end of each member pivotally engageable in one of said recesses and theirv other ends vertically offset with respect to said first mentioned ends and pivoted in overlying relation, one of said -foldable members having a hook-like formation at one end, and resilient means tending to normally maintain said members in folded position.

ALBERT J. LEONARD. 

